THE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN .

   

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Editorial Written by Yim Seung-Hye on koreajoongangdaily. Written in 2012.

Do you think idol and K-pop groups are “singers who can’t sing,” focusing instead on choreography and the visual aspects of performances?

Meet Bora, Hyolyn, Soyou and Dasom, better known as Sistar.

The members of Sistar, in white, perform “Alone.” From left are Soyou, Bora, Hyolyn and Dasom. Provided by Starship Entertainment

Although the “four girls are not as pretty as other girl groups like Girls’ Generation, they know how to sing,” says Kim Si-dae, 40, CEO of Starship Entertainment.

Hyolyn, 21, the leader of Sistar and nicknamed “Hyo-yonce,” instantly caught Kim’s attention with her “powerful Beyonce-like voice, which is quite exceptional in Korea.”

Kim says he wanted to make a girl group that has no difficulty staging live performances.

“Hyolyn has an inborn talent of singing. We thought about making Hyolyn debut as a solo as she could sing, but didn’t know how to dance. But after training her for a year, we saw her capability as a girl group member. It only took her a year to get to a certain level in dancing that usually takes three years for others,” Kim said.

With Hyolyn in place, Kim added three more girls and launched Sistar, which debuted in June 2010.

Today, Sistar - Starship Entertainment’s “second child” - is immensely popular at home and abroad, standing shoulder to shoulder with top girl groups like Girls’ Generation and the Wonder Girls, who belong to the country’s top entertainment agencies, SM and JYP, respectively.

Sistar has received numerous awards: Rookie of the Month by Cyworld Digital Music Awards; Best Style Icons by Korea Lifestyle Awards; and Bon Sang by High 1 Seoul Music Awards.

The girl group’s latest mini-album, “Alone,” ranked No. 1 on one of three major broadcasting station’s music programs and No. 1 on the Billboard K-pop Hot 100 chart for three weeks.

Kim says that as more and more people recognized Sistar as a “girl group who can sing,” Starship Entertainment was able to define its identity as an agency that “stresses singing ability.” Starship’s “first-born,” K.Will, is also known as a talented ballad singer “who has a powerful voice, but falls short compared to other singers in terms of looks.”

We take a look at the talent behind the talent at Starship Entertainment.

 

      Starship’s leader

Starship Entertainment occupies three floors of a building in Bangbae-dong, southern Seoul. On each floor there is a management office and practice room with its doors facing each other. Other agencies typically group offices together on one floor or have a separate building for practice rooms.

“It was a big investment for Starship [to have practice rooms on each floor],” says Kim. “We could’ve separated the practice rooms from the main building and located them elsewhere, where the rent is cheaper, but I thought this was the best way to be closer to the artists and trainees.”

As Kim points out, the inside of a practice room can be seen when leaving his office.

“Starship is not a small company, but all our employees try their best to communicate with artists and trainees as parents do with their children,” Kim said.

Moreover, Kim said it was a “brave investment” to build four practice rooms, when most other entertainment agencies have one or two.

“Because there are many practice rooms, artists can come in and practice anytime and know there’s always a room,” he says, adding he thinks this is why his “children” learn faster than others in other agencies.

“Even during her free time, Hyolyn comes to the practice room and goes back home after practicing singing and dancing for one or two hours,” Kim says. “I think she feels comfortable here, being able to practice anytime she wants without being anxious about taking advantage of the practice room as there are plenty for other artists to practice.”

Kim says having multiple